Does anyone remember the 2003 heatwave?

[Ursulla]

Sat here with the fan on takes me back to the summer when I bought it - it was the last one in the shop because even though it was only June it was already baking hot. I was a barmaid and it got so hot we had to hose down the barrels in the cellar. We hosed each other down as well, on slow days. It didn't matter, everyone was sweating anyway. I would walk home at 1 am when my shift finished and it was still roasting hot. I don't know if it ever got colder in any 24 hour period. Maybe at 3am, but it couldn't have been for long because the sun came up at 4.30.

When I wasn't working I sunbathed on the flat roof of my house, other neighbours were doing the same, and the parks were full of people sprawling around. It was a long, hot, languid time.

Anyone else?

Yes. I remember sitting outside in the garden at midnight one night, still hot. We also went to the south of France where we baked.

Yes, I had a room in a shared flat and remember coming home from work and just flopping on my bed.

I had a job as a lifeguard that summer - the pool was in basically a greenhouse so I just sweated all day long!

Yes, i was pregnant and it was ridiculously hot. I was in Paris, it was 40° on the Metro and I thought i was going to pass out.

I sunbathed in the garden all summer that year. It was my last summer at home after A levels and before heading off to uni.

The sweat was unreal lol. A friend of mine had three job interviews in a row and he sweated so much moving between them that he bought a new shirt as he went to each and stuffed the old one in his bag.

I actually can't remember the 2003 heatwave.
Being older I do remember the heatwave of 1976 when I was a student. It went on so long we thought we would never see rain again. And when it did finally rain we all went out in the streets just to enjoy it.

Yes we were newly weds living in central London in a flat with no outside space. Spent a lot of time in pub gardens

Yes. I was on a beach in Wales. It seemed to be the only part of the UK which wasn't experiencing a heatwave, we were looking at the newspapers (people crammed onto beaches) with utter bemusement. I had a period but couldn't manage a tampon even with my cousin shouting encouragement through the door so I wore a sanitary towel under my swimming costume which instantly expanded when I sat in a rockpool and I was miserable about the whole thing

Also remember we were let loose in the town centre so went and bought our own rubber dinghy which we were very excited about, until my aunt said absolutely not, take it back. My younger cousin bitched about it for the next three days insisting "We have two just-about-sixteen year olds with us!!!"

She was totally right BTW we definitely would have got swept out to sea never to return.

I don't remember the 2003 heatwave, but I remember the September and October of 2008 being unseasonbly warm. It took everyone by suprise.

Yes I was VERY pregnant with my first. That summer seemed never ending and I've honestly never been so uncomfortable!

I remember 1976 as well! I was in primary school and the playground tarmac got stuck to my shoes. My mum was really pissed off.

Yes! I remember it…I was working in central London, in an office with no AC, huge windows that let in the sunshine but wouldn’t open to let in any breeze, ineffective blinds that didn’t keep out the sun, and we had a formal dress code (had to wear suits). Added to that, I had to commute on the tube which was heaving and sweaty, plus had a hilly walk from the station to home. I was a sweaty mess from dawn til dusk. Grim.

Yeah, I remember it! I had a trip to Paris booked with family and we were debating whether to cancel (losing a lot of money) as it would have been way too hot to enjoy it. In the end it cooled down enough and we had a good time. Also remember working in London for my first job and the tube was hell!

I don’t remember that at all.

I was in France and walked to work past one of those electronic billboards that tells you the time, the temperature etc. It said 40 degrees and I remember thinking maybe it wasn’t sensible to be out in it and I should have worn a hat. I had those high heeled flip flops (yay the early 2000s!) and could feel the pattern of the straps burning into my feet. I was 21 then, wouldn’t dream of walking 5/6 kilometres in that kind of heat now!

Another one who doesn't remember. I remember the summer of 2010 was really lovely with long hot days.

Yes. I was in the South of France during the Fete de Bayonne. We just got up at 7pm and went to bed at 7am every day, which is what I told my mum when she asked why I hadn't got a tan.

I moved into my house in 2003 and it was a cul de sac I remember I was 19 and our garden was used for water fights . It was a great summer . The next summer I had my first child and I had to become an adult . But the summers seemed like summers then and the weather lasted .

Yep. Was super hot all summer and at the Reading Festival we slept outside our tent as it was so hot!

40 degrees is really hot. I've just looked it up and the top temperature in the UK that year was 38.5.

I was also pregnant and as I was overdue I was walking miles in the baking heat to try to get things moving. Eventually I gave birth on one of the hottest days of the year. There was no air conditioning in labour ward and whilst there was a fan it was just moving hot air around the room.

Funny how many of us were in France at the time.

I remember the summer of '76, cracks in the ground you could lose your sibling in! I remember the hosepipe ban and dad setting up a method of syphoning the bath water to water his veg patch in the garden.

The summer I got married. Husband was wearing his uniform and nearly died it was so hot. Forecast said it was going to break the day of our wedding so my parents had arranged space heaters for the marquee, just in case. They were not used.